Isaiah 10:5
in Isaiah 10Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!
KJV
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
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This verse in Isaiah 10
Commentary
10 notes on this verseO Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,..... Either as calling him to come against the land of Israel to spoil it, so Kimchi; or as grieving that he was obliged to make use of him in such a manner against his people; or as threatening him with ruin. So the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions render it, "woe to the Assyrian"; wherefore this, and what follows, serve to comfort the people of God; that though they should be carried captive by the Assyrians, yet they should be utterly destroyed, and a remnant of the Jews should be saved.
This site's exposition
Woe to Assyria, the rod
on Isaiah 10:5-7
Assyria is "the rod of My anger," sent "against a godless nation." The text separates commission from intention, "But this is not his intention; this is not his plan," since Assyria means to destroy many nations. God sends the nation, and the nation pursues its ambition.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 5 and following) Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hands is my fury. I will send him against a deceitful nation, and I will command him against the people of my wrath, to take the spoil and seize the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not understand this, and his heart does not take it to heart, but his purpose is to destroy and cut off nations. For my princes are not also kings? Is not Charcamis like Chalanno, and Arphad like Emath?
The Medieval Church1 voice
Woe to the Assyrian. In this part, he threatens against the Assyrians themselves, and this is divided into two parts: in the first part the threat against the enemies who oppress them is set out; in the second, the strengthening of the oppressed people: therefore, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), so that when that ceases they are disarmed and disabled to do any further mischief. Note, God's anger against his people is but for a moment ( Ps. xxx. 5 ), and when that ceases, and is turned away from us, we need not fear the fury of any man, for it is impotent passion.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
O Assyrian - This is God's invitation to him to take the charge, and set upon the work. The rod - The instrument of mine anger, wherewith I shall chastise my people.
Pilate could have no power against Christ unless it were given him from above, John xix. (2.) By him the exercise of that power is directed. The Assyrian is to take the spoil and to take the prey, not to shed any blood.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
O Assyrian - The word הוי hôy, is commonly used to denounce wrath, or to indicate approaching calamity; as an interjection of threatening; Isa 1:4. ‘Wo sinful nation;’ Isa 10:8, Isa 10:11, Isa 10:18, Isa 10:20-21; Jer 48:1; Eze 13:2. The Vulgate so understands it here: Vae Assur; and the Septuagint, Οὐαι Ἀσσυρίοις Ouai Assuriois - ‘Woe to the Assyrians.’ So the Chaldee and the Syriac. It is not then a simple address to the Assyrian; but a form denouncing wrath on the invader.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
O Assyrian, &c.--rather, "What, ho (but MAURER, Woe to the) Assyrian! He is the rod and staff of Mine anger (My instrument in punishing, Jer 51:20; In their hands is Mine indignation" [HORSLEY, after JEROME].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
O Assyrian “Ho to the Assyrian” - Here begins a new and distinct prophecy, continued to the end of the twelfth chapter: and it appears from Isa 10:9-11 of this chapter, that this prophecy was delivered after the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser; which was in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah: and as the former part of it foretells the invasion of Sennacherib, and the destruction of his army, which makes the whole subject of this chapter it must have been delivered before the fourteenth of the same reign. The staff in their hand “The staff in whose hand” - The word הוא hu, the staff itself, in this place seems to embarrass the sentence. I omit it on the authority of the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint: nine MSS., (two ancient), and one of my own, ancient, for ומטה הוא umatter hu, read מטהו mattehu, his staff. Archbishop Secker was not satisfied with the present reading. He proposes another method of clearing up the sense, by reading ביום beyom, in the day, instead of בידם beyadam, in their hand: “And he is a staff in the day of mine indignation.”
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֥וֹי | ho | woe to! | H1945 → | 51 times |
| אַשּׁ֖וּר | ʾashur | Assyria | H804 → | 151 times |
| שֵׁ֣בֶט | shevet | [the] rod of | H7626 → | 190 times |
| אַפִּ֑י | ʾapi | anger my | H639 → | 276 times |
| וּמַטֶּה־ | umateh- | and [is] a staff | H4294 → | 252 times |
| ה֥וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| בְיָדָ֖ם | veyadam | in hand their | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| זַעְמִֽי׃ | za'mi | indignation my | H2195 → | 22 times |
ה֥וֹיwoe to!
hoH1945 →51 times
אַשּׁ֖וּרAssyria
ʾashurH804 →151 times
שֵׁ֣בֶט[the] rod of
shevetH7626 →190 times
אַפִּ֑יanger my
ʾapiH639 →276 times
וּמַטֶּה־and [is] a staff
umateh-H4294 →252 times
ה֥וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
בְיָדָ֖םin hand their
veyadamH3027 →1618 times
זַעְמִֽי׃indignation my
za'miH2195 →22 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 10:15Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or…
it leads to
- Romans 9:20–21
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Isaiah 45:9
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Isaiah 29:16
You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of…
- Romans 9:20–21
Through
Isaiah 30:30And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
it leads to
- Psalms 18:13–14
The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded— hailstones and coals of fire.
- Isaiah 29:6
you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
- Joshua 10:11
As they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon to Azekah, the LORD cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by…
- Psalms 18:13–14
Through
Isaiah 14:25I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:4
For as in the day of Midian You have shattered the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor.
- Isaiah 9:4
Through
Zephaniah 2:13And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
it leads to
- Nahum 3:7
Then all who see you will recoil from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ Where can I find comforters for you?”
- Nahum 3:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.